Two Hours' Traffic
by Fairycoordinator
Summary: Will is a straight A student with dreams to go to med school. Nico is his opposite, depressed and dabbling in drugs. They soon discover that each are not what they seem, and though both have their own problems, they come to find that they can't make it through without each other. Solangelo high school au
1. Chapter 1

_Well y'all, I had this story published back in like 2014 when I was yep.. Fourteen. This was my vision of what the world was like as a virginal teen, and I'm drunk rn so I'm like fuck it, let's repost this shit since I know a lot of people liked it at the time. Now that I've actually had sex (lots of it), done drugs (lots of them), and just generally done a lot of adulting shit like living on my own, working full time, and been in real relationships, I thought I'd revisit what my younger self considered to be "edgy" through this new lens. I still love Percy Jackson though, Percy Jackson is life. Just you know, I'm getting a Bachelor's degree, work full time, and have to pay rent and utilities now. So Percy is kinda at the backburner. Still love you tho. If you are seeing this for the first time, welcome. If you miraculously are here from back in the day, welcome back. I'm gonna finish this dammit._

* * *

_"With love's light wings did I o'erpech these walls,_

_For stony limits cannot hold love out, _

_And what love can do, that dares love attempt."_

Nico wasn't paying attention, really.

He had tried, honestly tried, but he could tell as soon as he walked into the classroom that it wasn't going to happen. So why try to force it? He hated Romeo and Juliet almost as much as he didn't understand it.

He had a headache. The open pages in front of him made it worse, almost like the words were boring into his skull.

So instead he looked to the front of the classroom, where Will Solace was reading. Out loud. By his own choice. Nico couldn't fathom why.

He didn't know Will. Well, he supposed he did, know him. He knew his name, he knew what he looked like, he knew what he did. And Nico was pretty sure that he knew him. Will had been in almost all his classes since freshman year. He was good at sports. He was, in Nico's opinion, off-puttingly smiley. And he was smart. Well.

Nico had always believed there was a difference between actual smart people and hard workers, and he suspected that Will fell into the latter category. He was always volunteering for this or that, always went way up and beyond whatever it was asked of him. Nico didn't think he had ever lost a science fair, ever. He didn't have many friends, but it wasn't like he was ostracized or unpopular. He was just there, but he still stood out.

Nico watched him now, heard his voice ring out through the classroom, loud and clear and distinct. Nice clothes, nice smile, nice person. He probably never had to go without anything his whole life. And it was his life, that was handed to him all neatly and perfectly on a silver platter ever since he was born with an equally silver spoon in his mouth.

When Nico was born, there was no spoon. Or platter. In fact, he wasn't handed anything. Maybe a lifetime of problems.

So naturally, Will Solace annoyed the fuck out of him.

And yet Will fascinated him. He was so different than Nico, so very different. And so Nico had always watched him since the start of high school, out of the corner of his eye. He wasn't sure why.

He was disgruntled, annoyed, condescending, and probably more than a little jealous.

Sometimes Nico wondered that maybe if he had been born with Will's life, he wouldn't be so fucked up. But on second thought, bad things just followed him. And he had gotten to the point where he just let them in gladly. He used to resist. But he was almost eighteen now. At the end of the year he could leave school forever, and life would take him where it wanted.

He was pretty sure that the world had a plan for everyone. Something like destiny. And once you were born, there was nothing you could do about it. At one point Nico had cursed his bad luck, but now…

Now he didn't really care.

So he looked at Will Solace and hated him, and he didn't even know why.

But he did, he knew why he hated him, and it disgusted him that he could feel like that.

_You're not a good person. _

_You can hate him. _

_You do hate him!_

And yet, at the same time, Nico couldn't possibly hate him.

Because Will was everything he had ever wanted to be.

It wasn't Will's fault. Will wasn't the problem. Nico was the problem.

And… it always came back to that.

He dug his foot into the floor, trying to make Will's voice go away. This was stupid. Nico had barely said ten sentences to him the past three years, and yet he thought he somehow knew him? If there was one person Nico knew, it was himself and only himself.

He tore his gaze away from Will. His fidgeting had gotten worse… he needed to forget about all this.

Were the lights always this bright?

Suddenly he didn't think he could spend another minute inside the classroom.

Maybe not even another second. So the instant the teacher turned around, Nico was out the door.

When it clicked behind him, he ran. He knew he would get in trouble later. He didn't care. He would just say he had to use the bathroom really bad. It wasn't a lie, he did have to go to the bathroom. But not for the regular reason.

He ducked into a stall, locked it behind him.

No one was there. Perfect.

When he got back to class, he felt better. Much better. A million times better.

He couldn't even hear the teacher reprimanding him.

* * *

The lunch bell rang, and Will looked up.

He hadn't even noticed that class was almost over; he had been so engrossed in what he was reading. He really liked the play. Or at least he thought he did. He hated the ending.

He got that Romeo and Juliet was a tragedy, of course, but it just seemed so… needlessly disheartening. That something, in this case, love, could go so well. But just when you think that it's going to work, that it's perfect, and finally forever, it falls apart.

But it was just a story. Will knew it wasn't best to dwell on it too much. Besides, he had other classes and other work to do.

Which reminded him, he had to talk to the teacher. About what she thought about Will's college choices. It was still early in the year, so he needed all the time he could get to think about it. Assuming he made it into all those universities his parents told him to apply to. Hopefully.

He walked up to her desk. Someone else was already there.

"Do you have a minute? I'd like to talk about-"

"No, I don't right now, sorry. Tomorrow, Will. I'm dealing with Nico right now."

She glared at Nico, who looked at Will.

He had a strange look in his eyes. They were dark and unfocused, like his mind was somewhere else, like the last place in the world he wanted to be was at school, in the classroom, in front of the teacher's desk. And yet they were underlined hard, and sharp like polished rock, cutting. And sad. They flicked up and down once and then returned to looking up at something Will assumed only he could see.

For some reason Will's heart started beating faster.

He mumbled an apology to the teacher and almost ran out of the classroom.

His mind kept wandering to those eyes, and he was struck with the sudden urge to know what they meant.

He shrugged it off. It didn't matter. He didn't associate with people like Nico Diangelo, and they didn't associate with him.

He tried to forget about it once he sat down with his friends and started eating lunch.

Not that he ever got a chance to.

"Did you hear about Nico DiAngelo today?" said Lou Ellen, leaning in as if she didn't want other people to hear.

"What do you mean?" Will asked, pressing his pencil hard into his paper. When in doubt, do homework.

"What do you mean? You were just in class with him!" said . He acted as if he couldn't believe that Will didn't know what they were talking about. It wouldn't be the first time. Will was always the last to hear about things. Maybe it was because Cecil and Lou Ellen were kind of his only friends. Or maybe it was because he didn't really pay attention to social things.

"What? Oh, I was reading for the class. I was kind of distracted."

"Typical Will. Well, I'll just tell you now," said Lou Ellen, putting down her soda. "So this happened last period in your class. I can't believe you didn't notice. Nico ran out of class and disappeared. And then he hid in the bathroom and got high. And this time, apparently he finally got caught."

"Dude, he's probably going to get expelled now," Cecil said. "About time."

"Is this all true?" Will asked.

Nico had been at the teacher's desk. But it hadn't seemed that serious of a talk.

"Well, it's technically just a rumor. But come on, everyone knows that Nico's a total druggie."

For some reason that bothered Will.

God, why was Nico DiAngelo so in his head?

Why did he even care?

"Well, it's probably just a rumor. We don't know if he does drugs or not," Will said quietly.

"It's pretty obvious," said Cecil, shrugging. "This was just the first time he did them at school, that's all. Probably like cocaine or something."

Will thought of those eyes, the big dark ones…

there's something there.

"I'm going to study hall," he said abruptly, shutting his binder. "It's too loud out here."

"Awww," Lou Ellen moaned. "Stay. Calculus isn't even due tomorrow."

"I can always get a head start," said Will, and he gathered his things and hurried off, almost hitting several unawares in his haste.

He sat alone in the library, his pencil tapping the paper, faster and faster, until he made a hole.

What was going on? He couldn't concentrate. He could always get work done, but not now, apparently.

He wondered what Nico DiAngelo was doing right now. If he was in trouble. If he was high.

If he was okay.

He was glad when the bell rang, and his mind couldn't wander anymore.

* * *

It took all of Nico's concentration not to run out of the classroom once the teacher was done with him.

He had walked out with just a detention slip. For leaving class without permission.

Thank god. The teacher had been looking at him weird by the end there.

The clouds up above looked bloated, covering the sky. Was it going to rain?

Fuck if I know.

But it was okay, it was okay, because he was free for a half hour and he wasn't in trouble and he wasn't dead. Figuratively. And literally. Yet.

And the best part was that he wasn't stressed anymore. In fact, he wasn't really thinking about anything.

It would go away soon. It always did, but this time he it wouldn't last as long. Maybe until the end of the school day, if he was lucky.

He laughed. Luck was never on his side, was it?

Someone called his name in the close? distance and he turned around.

"Nico, what the fuck, man?"

"What, Octavian?" Nico was confused. Octavian looked like he had a fight to pick, but then again, he kind of always did. And besides, Nico was starting to feel tired. He didn't have the energy to deal with this shit. "Octavian…"

"I heard you got expelled!"

"No, I'm still here…" Nico said slowly, waving his detention slip. "And alive."

"Is is true? Are you high?"

"Are you high?"

"Fuck, man."

"Yeah. Just a little. I needed it. I needed it really bad."

"Why?"

"I don't know. I just needed it."

"Watch yourself," said Octavian, sighing. "I mean it. Don't do reckless shit like this. Pull yourself together. If you get caught I'm probably going down too."

"Sorry."

"You better be. I would leave school now, because you're obvious as fuck."

"No, the teacher didn't catch me."

"Good. Keep it that way. If you keep doing stuff like this you can get your own prescription."

"Please, no."

Please, please, please no.

This was the only thing, the only thing that was keeping him sane. Alive, functioning… a million other words.

Nico's mind was blown, and so were the proportions of everything, too big for him. He needed to get off his high and pull it together. But that wasn't going to happen for a couple of hours.

"It won't happen again and I'll be more careful next time so I won't get caught and please let me keep buying from you," Nico said all in one gasp.

"Fine. You're embarrassing. You should go home before you vomit or pass out or something."

"Yeah, I think I will…" said Nico quietly.

Some place in the back of his mind told him that he had a test today, but it only floated by and he largely ignored it.

Octavian pushed past him and Nico was alone, but he suddenly felt claustrophobic.

He needed to leave, now.

He walked out behind the school to the soccer field, and he could feel the wind running through his hair.

For a minute he felt so unbearably sad, so unbearably fucked up, that he couldn't breathe.

But then he remembered how tired he was, and that it all really didn't matter.

He crawled through the hole in the fence and got to the parking lot. His keys fumbled in the lock. He felt like someone was watching him. He slammed the car door behind him and started the ignition. He sped out of the parking lot, not looking back to see if anyone was watching.

As he drove he let the feeling take over, the hollow-light feeling. It felt like nothing, but it was something, something that erased the mess in his brain and made it clean again, and he loved it. The road faded…

Somehow he made it home, and fell onto the couch.

When he woke up, he ran to the bathroom and vomited. His pacing had been irregular or something, he assumed.

But the world was stark again, and his head hurt. It hurt like hell. He wasn't high anymore. Somehow it was night time. No one was at home.

He looked at himself in the mirror. All he could see were two giant eyes staring at him, like sockets of a skull. As he looked, they seemed to grow larger, almost swallowing his face.

They looked at him as if to say,

_it's all your fault. _

Nico supposed he was saying that to himself.

He splashed water on his face, took a shower.

He didn't feel like doing anything.

_It's all your fault._


	2. Chapter 2

Nico stared at the test.

Was he still high?

No, he wasn't. The pulsing at his temples told him that much. He always got headaches when he was clean.

He flipped to the second page. Maybe he could do that.

Nope.

And the third page, fourth page, fifth page… nope.

He turned back to the front.

Oh look, he could write his name.

But not the date. He wasn't even sure what day it was. Yesterday had been awful. He had somehow resorted to using at school. Why had he even done that? Was he really that pathetic? He couldn't hold it in for a couple more hours? He always could before. And yet yesterday he had essentially run out of the classroom because he couldn't stand it any longer.

He didn't want to admit to himself, but it scared him. Just a little.

It was just because of that damn Will Solace. Making him nervous or some shit.

_It's my fault. _

No, the teacher's. For giving such a boring lesson.

_It's my fault. _

_Goddamnit!_

But it was fine, Nico thought. Because, starting today, he would never use at school again. Ever. Even if he really wanted to. Even if he felt like his whole brain was going to combust unless he got some buzz in his system, fast. And he was going to do this test.

Yeah, that wasn't going to happen. He knew exactly two characters by name. Romeo and Juliet.

He should have paid more attention. Well, it was too late now. Next time he would. Next time.

Next time.

Luckily the test was multiple choice. Nico tried to answer as arbitrarily as possible. Maybe by chance he would get a few right.

As a result, he was the first one done. Or rather, almost the first one done. Will got up from his seat the same time.

That bothered Nico. He was going to be the first.

_What the fuck? Are you in first grade? _

While he was thinking about it Will got to the desk first. So much for that.

The teacher took Will's paper without question. When Nico handed his in she raised an eyebrow.

"You finished fast," she said slowly.

"Yeah, I did."

"Did you check your answers?"

"Yeah."

The teacher scanned the paper.

"So you think that Juliet is in love with Mercutio?"

Nico rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. He was painfully aware of the rest of the class watching the exchange. He supposed he didn't really care, but still, he could just imagine what they were thinking.

_Drugs!_

"Yeah, that's my interpretation of it," Nico said, and with that he turned around and headed back to his desk, flipping the bird once his back was to the teacher.

That shut everyone up.

He got to his seat and brooded. Everyone had gone back to working.

Except for Will, who was… staring at him.

Nico looked at him through his bangs. He had used this trick many a time. His hair was dark and long enough that it could hide his eyes pretty well, if he pretended he was looking down. Will was just looking at him. Just looking. Probably wondering if he was high. Or, being Will, wondering _how dare thou not study for the exam!_

The thought made him smile, almost. It wasn't any of Will's _fucking business. _

And...he was still staring.

Still staring.

Nico looked up and waved sardonically.

He thought that Will would be annoyed, but instead Will blushed and almost fell out of his chair in his haste to look down.

But before that their eyes had caught for just a moment.

Just a small moment.

Suddenly Nico remembered that yesterday, when the teacher was talking to him, he had looked at Will. Eye to eye. So it wasn't the first time. Well, he had been higher than the clouds at that point, to be fair.

But still, it gave Nico a dull shock. A sort of jolt in his stomach. And he wasn't sure why.

It made him anxious. He shook it off.

He looked at Will now, who was determinedly looking down, his dark hair just barely falling into his eyes.

For a crazy second, Nico wondered what it would be like to touch that hair.

_I thought I had determined that I wasn't tripping. _

He shook the thought from his mind. Shook it hard.

Someone snapped in his face.

"Dude, what are you staring at?"

"Nothing!" Nico said, too loudly; the people around him shushed him. "Do your test, Jason."

Nico wasn't quite sure why Jason talked to him. They were kind of opposites. Jason played on the football team, they looked nothing alike, and Jason was really popular. Not that Nico wasn't, it was just that he was more… notorious. Yeah. He liked the sound of that. Notorious. But Jason wasn't mean or anything, so Nico was fine with that.

And plus, there was his sister, Thalia. She was Nico's type. She was cool. Much more Nico's speed. He didn't talk to her much, since she was a year younger, but still. He liked watching her walk around the halls. She always walked like she owned the place, like a strut. And she was hot. She knew it. So did everyone else. So Nico put up with Jason mostly because of that reason.

But also, to be honest, he was just glad that someone that wasn't up to their nose in drugs and trouble wanted to talk to him once in a while.

"Were you staring at Will?" said Jason said, squinting to look at the other side of the classroom.

Maybe not that glad.

"No. Were you sacked the last game or something?"

"Don't get all aggro on me, man! I was just asking!"

"Sorry," mumbled Nico. "Finish your test."

Nico sneaked another glance. Will still had his head down. He hadn't heard.

"About yesterday- were you really high?"

Nico almost choked. Heading straight for his second lie in about ten seconds, here.

"People are assholes. No."

"Then why did you run out of the classroom, then?"

"I didn't _run _out of the classroom."

"Why weren't you in any other classes after lunch?"

"I don't know! I was tired!"

"Because you were high?"

"No, because I was tired of people like you!" Nico didn't care how loud he was at this point. "Turn around and do your work, Jason!"

"Nico, stop talking!" The teacher stood up from her desk. "Do you want detention again?"

_I was telling Jason to be quiet!_

Nico shook his head no and looked down at his desk. Jason started flicking pieces of paper into Percy Jackson's hair.

Nico sighed. He was not looking forward to tomorrow. Or today. Or any other day, for that matter.

As expected, when Nico's test was handed back, a big glaring F was staring back at him.

Why did they have to write it in red ink? To make it obvious? Please, Nico already knew what grade he got from the moment he handed it in.

However, he was not expecting what came next.

The teacher called him up to her desk right as class was about to end. Shit. The second time in three days.

"Yes?"

"Sit down."

Nico sighed, and complied.

"Sit up straight."

Nico raised an eyebrow.

"Do it."

Nico did.

"So, this is the fourth test in a row you've completely failed."

"I am aware."

"At this rate, you're not going to pass the class. You need it to graduate."

"I am aware."

"And so, you have to get a tutor."

"No!"

Nico almost stood up. He was almost eighteen. Almost done with high school! He didn't need a tutor.

But then it hit him what the teacher had said. If he didn't get all his credits, he wouldn't graduate. He was failing more than one class. He needed to graduate. He didn't think he could stand being at school for one more year if he didn't. He needed at least his high school diploma. Just that. And then he would never have to go to school again.

But he didn't want a tutor. He didn't need help from anyone. He helped himself.

"I don't want a tutor. I don't need one."

"Well, it's not an option. We have our tutoring program here at school with student volunteers. I already signed you up."

"You already signed me up? I have work after school."

That wasn't a lie. Nico did have work. At the diner.

"How is it, Nico, that you can hold down a job, and yet can't be responsible enough to do any of your school work?"

Nico knew the answer to that.

He didn't need school.

But he needed the busboy job, even though he hated it, because he needed money.

What did he need money for?

Nobody had to know.

Especially not the teacher.

He must have fallen silent, because the teacher continued.

"What happened to you, Nico? You used to be such a good student in your freshman and sophomore year."

Nico swallowed.

"I just feel like it doesn't have a point anymore?"

It sounded sad, and pathetic; he knew it, and the teacher didn't even reprimand him. Instead, she shook her head.

It wasn't a complete lie. It didn't feel like it had a point anymore. Nothing felt like it had a point anymore, a reason to try.

Nico knew what had happened to him.

It was his life, plain and simple.

_Destiny!_

It was his destiny to die young or in prison or washed up in an alleyway. Because he had always been heading that way. Everything that had happened in his life up to now was a reminder of that, another security for his future. At first he had tried to resist it. He thought maybe, if he worked hard, he could change it. But no, the bad stuff kept happening.

But there was one escape, and that was in a pill that released forgetfulness and lust and tiredness and glory into his system, when he was so hopeless he didn't care anymore.

Now he had a reason to care. He cared about the pill.

That was it, the only only only thing.

"School does have a point. It helps you get into college and have a good life," the teacher persisted.

Nico laughed. He didn't mean to, it just came out.

"It's not funny. You know what, Nico, have you looked into counseling? I've read your files, you know, and it might be a good thing for you."

"Yeah, I have," Nico lied.

"Good. You know, the teaching staff is all here to help you. We want you to succeed." The teacher's voice had changed. She was being sympathetic. She felt bad for Nico, he knew. It was canceling out her annoyance. And he didn't have the heart to remain angry.

"Thanks," he said quietly.

Though he was sure he would never talk to any teacher about his problems, ever. He knew that they would feel sorry for him, what with all the things in his life. He knew they would mean well, but he didn't like sympathy. At least not from adults.

"So, I've assigned you to Will. He's in this class, you know him."

"What?!"

Nico was hit with a whole different set of emotions.

_Will Solace?_

How could he say that he didn't want to work with him because he had an… internal conflict with him? _I don't want to work with Will because he has the life that I wanted to have and that annoys me. _Now he sounded like a lunatic. Way to go, Nico. He leaned in closer to the desk and lowered his voice.

"Is there any way I can get a different tutor?"

The teacher frowned. "I think Will would be good for you. He's one of our school's top students. And he's patient."

Nico looked over at Will, who was diligently working on god knows what. What on earth would possess someone to work like that? Did he think his life depended on it or something?

Oh, this was not going to go well.

"Fine, okay," Nico said. He could tell that the teacher wasn't going to budge. Why would she, she thought that Will was sent straight from the heavens. As did every other teacher.

_Why the fuck is he so perfect?_

"Go talk to him now. The bell's going to ring any second."

"Does he know? That he's supposed to tutor me?"

"No, but he's in the program. He's used to this kind of thing. Just go up and set up a time."

"But…"

"Do it."

"Fine."

Will was putting his things away into his bag when he saw someone walk up next to him. Well, their shoes anyway. Some really faded old Converse. If they had been a color at one point, Will didn't know.

He looked up.

Standing there was Nico DiAngelo. Nico DiAngelo who he couldn't stop wondering about two days ago. And yesterday. And admittedly still today.

"Hey."

_Is he talking to _me_?_

"Hey, Will."

_He is. _

"Oh, hi, Nico."

Nico stood there awkwardly as the rest of the class filed out. The bell had rung. He had strangely pale skin, as if it was originally much darker, somehow. He was skinny. He was wearing a jean jacket several sizes too big, which, come to think of it, he had worn almost every day since freshman year.

And his eyes… big and dark and hard to know.

Will moved away a little, scooting to the far end of his seat. He saw the corners of Nico's mouth tighten.

"So, Mrs. Wong wants you to be my tutor."

"Me… be _your _tutor?"

"Trust me, I said the same thing," Nico said, shifting his feet uncomfortably.

Will's mind raced. He didn't want to tutor Nico DiAngelo. He didn't want to be _near _Nico, who everyone said did drugs and went to ragers and other bad things, who walked the halls like a ghost, the people parting for him.

But there was a part of him that wanted to, a part that was curious, a part of him that wanted to know everything there was to know about the boy in front of him.

He was scared of Nico. He didn't particularly even _like _him. He, Will Solace, did not associate with these types of people.

So he should just forget about wanting to find out what was behind those eyes. But he really wanted to know.

"I don't know," Will got out, "My schedule is pretty full."

Nico sighed. "Mrs. Wong made it seem like we didn't have a choice."

Will hesitated, and Nico saw.

"Look, I'm going to fail this class. And my other ones too. And if I fail, I don't graduate. Just… please help me."

That was the last thing Will had expected.

He looked at Nico. He couldn't tell what he was thinking.

But Will wanted to help him.

He supposed Nico was just a person, like everybody else. He didn't have inhuman desires or feelings. So maybe he deserved to be treated as such.

You know, Will was going to treat him like he would treat anyone else.

Maybe he would be the first one at this school to do so, and that was fine with him.

"Okay, sure. When are you available?"

"I work from 5-9 on weekdays."

"So… do you want to do it after school like two days a week?"

"Uh, sure."

This wasn't going too bad.

_I can do this! Maybe he's not so scary after all!_

"Cool, just give me your number and we'll figure it out from there."

"My number?"

Nico sounded surprised, almost repulsed.

Will's heart sank a little.

"I mean, if you don't want to-"

"No, it's fine. Here."

He took one of Will's pens and scribbled it down on the corner of his paper.

"Just...text me or something."

And with that, Nico DiAngelo left, just as silently as he had come.


	3. Chapter 3

It was six in the morning, and Will stood in front of the mirror.

He always got up early, to do this or that. He liked being prepared.

But never to figure out what to wear.

On principle, Will had never put much thought into his clothes. It wasn't like he had a great sense of style or anything. His parents had mandated his wardrobe for a long time when he was little, and Will supposed he never really grew out of it. Not that his parents would let him wear some of the stuff the kids at school did. And not that Will really cared.

But today he did. Just a little.

_Maybe just a bit more than a little. _

This was ridiculous.

Why did he care what Nico DiAngelo thought of him?

It wasn't like Will was suddenly going to wake up one day and be cool. A good three years of building his reputation as _Will Solace, academic extraordinaire! _had told him as much. Nico wasn't going to throw away a whole high school's experience worth of judgment just because Will showed up wearing some cool shoes.

Will looked into the mirror. His hair was all over the place. He looked tired; he had stayed up late studying with a can of Red Bull. His desk was a mess. He knew he should clean it before his parents saw, but he couldn't bring himself to.

Today was his first day tutoring Nico DiAngelo.

And Will already cared way too much.

He wasn't sure why he felt like he needed to impress Nico. Maybe to convince him that _hey, school can be cool! _But no, that wasn't true. It was a need that Will couldn't place. It made him nervous, _Nico _made him nervous. This whole thing was a bad idea. Obviously Nico couldn't care less about his grades.

But maybe it wasn't so obvious. Sure, maybe to everyone else, but...

_Just...please help me. _

Will had been surprised; he had been confused. He still was. And to look in Nico's eyes and see something, something shining and rough and deep, had been a shock. But it hadn't been the first time. Will had been thinking about those eyes for a while now.

And anyway, he had made up his mind. He was going to help Nico. He was going to treat him like he would anyone else. Like he would a friend. Well, maybe not that. He probably did not want to be friends with Will. Will didn't even know if Nico wanted to be friends with _him._

He couldn't help but feel that Nico DiAngelo was a mystery to be solved.

And he, Will Solace, was going to solve it.

He had read every single Sherlock Holmes book ever written. He could do this!

Will sighed.

And that was one of the many reasons why Nico would probably not like him.

He gave up and put on his normal clothes. Someone had told him once that he dressed like a thirty year old dad, what with his seemingly endless supply of collared shirts and polos. It couldn't be helped. Let Nico think what he wanted. Maybe he would be high and wouldn't notice how terrible Will was.

_You don't know if he does drugs or not. _

That was true. Will wasn't one to believe rumors. But that one had been around since sophomore year.

_What if he tries to sell _me _drugs?_

Will flopped down on his bed, looking at the ceiling. That wasn't going to happen. He was rushing to conclusions, yet again. It wasn't like the topics of drugs or sex or alcohol were going to come up in normal conversation. But with Nico, who knew. Will had never hung out with those types of people before.

There he went again, getting nervous. How many times was he going to do this? He had already decided on his plan of action. He was going to be nice and polite to Nico. His usual boring self.

He had texted Nico the other day, asking about tutoring times.

It had not gone fantastic.

_Will: Hey, do you want to set up a date?_

_Nico: What?_

_Will: ...for tutoring. Sorry. _

_Nico: oh_

_Will: so…_

_Nico: tuesday_

_Will: Mrs. Wong said we had to have it two days a week. And you agreed to it. _

_Nico: did I _

_Will: yeah_

_Nico: tuesday and thursday_

_Will: what time?_

_Nico: I don't know. after school _

_Will: sure_

_Will: wait, what time specifically_

_Will: and where_

Nico had not responded after that. The whole conversation had been like pulling teeth.

So Will assumed that he would just wait in the English classroom after school. If Nico showed.

Will got up and cleaned his desk. There wasn't anything else to do but worry. He looked outside; the sun was coming up. There was a dog walker crossing the street. Will had always wanted a dog, but his parents had said it would mess up the house. Not like it could do any lasting damage. Their housekeeper came twice a week. Plus, Will wouldn't have time to play with a dog anyway.

Will went downstairs. His parents were already in the kitchen, as per usual. His mom was cooking bacon. His dad was reading the newspaper, and didn't look up. Will said hello, and he nodded.

A short while later breakfast was on the table. Hands were linked and grace was said.

As usual, Will's father asked him a question. Will had come to label it as "question number one." It was asked at breakfast. Every day. Without fail.

"What are your plans today?"

"Question number two" was _how did your day go? _That was asked at dinner, if everyone was at the table.

"I have to tutor someone, and then I have tennis and piano."

"Who are you tutoring?"

Will stabbed at toast with his fork. "Just this boy from my class."

"What is he like?" asked his mother.

"He's... "

_Do you want me to say what I think or what everyone else thinks? _

"He's alright, I guess."

She nodded. Not another word was said the entire meal.

Will said goodbye, then left as fast as he possibly could.

He threw all his things in the backseat of his car and sped off, before realizing that he was probably way over the speed limit. He didn't know why he was driving so fast anyway. It wasn't like he was in a giant hurry to get to school.

He tried to plan out his schedule in his head. He couldn't spend too long tutoring, maybe an hour maximum. At least he had a valid excuse if he wanted to leave early. He had tennis practice at four thirty, and then piano at seven. And then he had homework. So much homework.

Sometimes he wished he could just be like Nico and just not do homework, but that would not go down well for Will. Not well at all. He parked his car in the student parking lot, then went into history class. As usual, he was the first one there. Everyone else was outside talking in the halls.

Will sat down at his desk and started working.

* * *

It was after school, and Will sat in the English classroom, tapping his feet. And drumming his pencil against the desk. And just being generally nervous.

He watched the clock, the seconds hand passing the minute hand, and then the hour. Again and again until Will got dizzy from looking. It had only been five minutes and twenty two seconds since the bell had rung. It felt like thirty.

Exactly seven minutes and forty two seconds after that, Nico DiAngelo walked into the classroom.

He was wearing what he always did, the too-big jacket and dark clothes. If Will had thought he had looked tired this morning, then Nico looked worse. He sat down next to Will, propped his chin on his hand, and spoke.

"So. Let's get this over with."

Will was taken aback. He was the one donating his time, not Nico. Nonetheless, he took out his materials with a slightly shaky hand and waited for Nico to do the same. He didn't move.

"Where are your things?" Will asked.

"I don't have them on me," Nico said, meeting Will's eyes, challenging him. It worked, Will got even more nervous. One because Nico was scary; two, because of the eye contact. Well, Will wasn't going to let Nico win that easily. He held his gaze. To his surprise, Nico bit his lip and looked away out the windows.

Will handed him a sheet of paper and a pencil.

"Here. You can take notes."

Nico accepted without comment.

"So, tell me what you know about Romeo and Juliet."

Nico looked at him strangely. Will watched, almost transfixed, as his fingers crawled to the edge of the desk. He had weirdly delicate hands, with long fingers and quick, graceful, movements.

"It was written by Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet fall in love. End of story."

Nico stopped inching his fingers along and slid them back to the paper. Will noticed that he seemed to fidget a lot, almost like he needed to do so. Will supposed that he did himself, but only when he was nervous. With Nico it was more of a constant thing. His fingers arched like dancers. Will tore his gaze away.

"Did you even read the play?" he asked, slightly annoyed. More than reading; he was pretty sure that everyone over the age of ten knew more about Romeo and Juliet than what Nico had just demonstrated.

"No," Nico responded simply. "It didn't interest me."

"But we read it out loud in class," argued Will. "_I _read it out loud in class."

"I didn't listen."

"Do you even know what happens at the end?"

"No."

"Do you know what happens at the beginning?"

"No."

"Do you know what happens in between."

"Not really."

"Are you going to cooperate at all?"

Will said it a lot louder than he meant to, and he immediately felt bad. But not that bad, because he was starting to be annoyed. Like really annoyed.

If Nico was surprised to have been reprimanded, he hid it quickly. But Will saw, saw his eyebrow raise just a little before he returned to his normal _I'm Nico DiAngelo and I don't give a crap _expression. It irked Will. What made him think he was so cool? The stupid chains on his jeans?

He took a deep breath. He was here to tutor. He was a professional. Mrs. Wong was counting on him.

_Remember what you thought this morning. _

Nico was silent, but he picked up his pencil and got ready to write.

Will sighed. He might as well move on. "Well, you can tell a lot from this play from just the first passage. It's basically the synopsis.

"_Two households, both alike in dignity,_

_In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,_

_From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,_

_Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean._

_From forth the fatal loins of these two foes_

_A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life,_

_Whose misadventured piteous overthrows_

_Doth with their death bury their parents̓ strife._

_The fearful passage of their death-marked love_

_And the continuance of their parents̓ rage,_

_Which but their children̓s end, naught could remove,_

_Is now the two-hours̓ traffic of our stage;_

_The which if you with patient ears attend,_

_What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend._

"So, what does that tell you?"

"That...Romeo and Juliet kill themselves. And their parents fight. And that there's just a general death vibe going on."

Will smiled. "Exactly. It's a tragedy. So, let's start with the first act. There's plenty of themes, but let's start with allusions. So, give me an example."

"Really?" Nico said.

"What?"

"Why would we start with allusions?'"

"I don't know, Nico," said Will, his voice tight with impatience. "Maybe because it's important."

"How important can it be?" asked Nico, leafing through the pages of Will's copy of the play. "When later in life will someone ask me if I can identify the themes and allusions in a Shakespeare play?"

Will was flustered. "I don't know! Maybe in college."

Nico leaned forward in his desk.

"I don't _want _to go to college."

Nico smiled, his face only about half a foot from Will's. Will swallowed.

"Well, that makes sense," he muttered, moving away. To his relief, Nico did the same.

Will seethed. What did Nico think he was playing at? All Will was trying to do was be nice, to _help _Nico. And Nico had to go and repay him… like this. Whatever he was doing.

He seemed to like to play with Will's head. And Will found it hard to keep him out.

"Why, Mr. Do, I should think that you would have a better lesson plan."

Will couldn't keep it in any longer. Screw professionalism.

"You're a dick," he blurted out.

"And you're a bad tutor," Nico responded, not even dropping a beat.

They sat there for a moment, waiting for someone to make the next move.

Instead, Nico simply smiled, wetting his lips slightly with his tongue. Will's stomach jolted.

_What the heck is going on with me?_

Will grabbed the book from Nico and flipped open to the first page.

"Here, read this. Don't stop until you've read all of Scene 1."

"Okay," Nico said, and to Will's surprise he did just that. When he was done Will asked him to summarize it.

"Shakespeare basically illustrates the setting. The families are fighting, Romeo's all depressed because the girl he wants to bang is going to stay a virgin forever."

"Basically," Will said. "Now-"

"Are _you_ a virgin?"

Will's head spun.

"What?"

"Have you had sex?"

Will looked down at the desk, positive his cheeks were turning red.

"None of your business," he said quickly.

Nico smiled. "You're easy to mess with, you know?"

"What- shut up," said Will. "Just read the next scene."

He was embarrassed. Very embarrassed. He shouldn't be, but he was. He didn't like talking, even thinking about the topic. _Sex. _He was a boy, he should be comfortable with it. Heck, he should _like _talking about it. Watch porn, all that stuff. What normal high school boys did. But he didn't, and though he didn't like to admit it, it scared him somewhat.

He had never even kissed someone before.

And stupid Nico DiAngelo had to go and mess around with his head and be crass and rude and awful when Will was just trying to do his job.

And as Will looked at him, his dark hair falling in his eyes, the ghost of a smile on his face, he knew that Nico was doing it on purpose.

But what had Will ever done to him?

That was what he couldn't figure out.

Nico read the scenes, summarized them in a way that Will begrudgingly accepted. He wasn't stupid. But he was lazy and biting and probably more than a little mean.

And yet Will was still drawn to him, and he couldn't figure out why. It bothered him. It was counter-logic. Will had read enough books to know that people like Nico were never good.

But it was probably because Nico was the type of person he was. He was an enigma. He was a complex. He was dust in the wind, a broken glass, a shadow; but mostly a mystery that Will couldn't for the life of him figure out.

But Will had figured out one thing, and that was that he didn't like Nico DiAngelo. Not one bit.


	4. Chapter 4

Last warning y'all: drug use. Don't do drugs. Drugs ruin lives.

* * *

Will Solace was fun to mess with.

Nico thought it was hilarious.

The first day he had been maybe ten minutes late. This time, when he finally stomped into the classroom, no supplies in hand, it was three thirty. Half an hour late! Take a suck of that!

Nico hadn't done much to fill the time. He had loitered by the water fountain, watching people pass in the halls, until he saw Thalia Grace. Then he had somewhat followed her until she turned around and faced him, narrow eyes looking lazily under her thick lashes.

"Nico," she said.

_God, her voice sounds like sex. _

"Thalia."

"Were you following me?"

The corners of her mouth turned up ever so slightly.

"Maybe."

She had smiled, really smiled then, and Nico watched as she turned around and walked away. He saw her piercings blink in the light. And then she was gone, and he was left standing there.

_Thalia Grace._

He felt a buzzing in his head that had nothing to do with pills.

He was about to run after her when he remembered.

_Oh yeah, I have tutoring. _

_Fuck._

* * *

And so Nico had walked into the English classroom late. Again.

Will was mad. Again.

As Nico slid into his seat Will glared at him, his brow furrowing slightly. It looked slightly off, almost like he didn't know how to be angry. As if it was an unnatural expression for him. Nico found it funny. He laughed.

Will's would-be scowl deepened. "What's so funny?"

Nico resisted the urge to say _your face. _They were not twelve.

"Nothing is funny."

"Then why did you laugh?"

Nico cocked his head to the side. "I was laughing at my life. One could say it's pretty laughable."

Will's expression changed to one of confusion, and then concern. He opened his mouth to say something, but Nico cut him off before he could say anything personal. He hated _personal. _

"Never mind. It's a joke."

Will nodded, not looking convinced. Nico started his hand drumming on the table. It was making him nervous, the way Will was looking at him now, so intently. His eyes were blue and wide and readable, like fall sky. Nico was reminded of Thalia. But her blue was different, they gleamed as they shifted; they were darker. Will's were just blue, constantly bright, framed by long eyelashes that Nico was pretty sure should have belonged to a girl. He watched as they blinked once, twice; fluttering open and close.

_Woah, snap out of it. _

"Aren't you going to ask why I was late?" Nico said quickly, looking away.

"Okay," Will said with feigned patience. "Why were you late?"

That tone was annoying. It reminded Nico of his sixth grade teacher, who had always tried to "connect" with him. It had not worked.

"I was talking to Thalia," Nico lied. Well, not lied. It was half the truth. But for some reason he felt the need to show off, to seem cool.

"What was so pressing that it made you late?" Will asked, smirking.

"You know, _things." _He emphasized the last word, hoping to imply _sex _or something cool like that_. _That had not happened, at all, but Will wouldn't know. Would he?

He needn't worry. Will didn't even know what he was lying about.

"What _things_?" he asked, looking confused.

"That's for me to know, and you to find out."

_God, that was fucking cheesy. Wasn't that fucking cheesy? _

Will simply rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I don't get the big deal with Thalia anyway. She's just a girl."

"She's a _hot _girl," Nico said. "You don't think she's hot?"

"Not really," Will mumbled, fixing his papers. He looked like he was trying to avoid the topic. Nico wasn't going to give him that one.

"Which girls do you think are hot, then?"

Will paused, his eyes still fixed to the desk.

"I don't know."

"Are you _gay?_"

It was then that Will looked up at him sharply, eyes flashing. Nico leaned back slightly, surprised.

"I don't know, Nico, are _you _gay?"

"What? Sorry, I didn't mean it that way," Nico stammered, trying to backtrack. God, he was just messing with Will. He didn't have to take it so seriously.

"Then what did you mean?"

"I- I don't know."

Will sighed and went back to doing whatever he had been pretending to do. It occurred to Nico suddenly that Will's hands were shaking slightly, and that… so were his own. Nico gripped the edges of his seat, trying to stop it.

He realized that neither one of them had said that they _weren't _gay.

"I'm not gay, though," Nico pushed out. "But if you are… that's cool."

"Well, I'm not," Will said flatly.

Nico nodded mutely. He could feel the ghost of a headache starting to creep into his head. He hadn't used since yesterday morning. Over twenty four hours… he used to be able to go for longer. These days it was getting harder. He could almost see the plastic baggie deep in his jacket pocket. He imagined them sliding down his throat, roughly at first, then softly, then nothing, nothing at all.

He shifted his position. An hour to go. Then he could go home. Only an hour. But as he looked at the clock, it seemed that it was slow. Actually, he was sure of it. Had the seconds hand ever gone that slow? Thank god the bell wouldn't ring again. He was pretty sure that it would break his eardrum if it did.

Will was thumbing through a copy of something. Lots of highlighting.

"What's that?" Nico asked.

"It's my script for Romeo and Juliet."

"Your script? Are you in a play?"

"Yeah, Nico, the school play. There's been posters up for forever."

"Oh." Nico felt slightly embarrassed. "I didn't know the school was doing it too. Well, who are you?"

"I'm Romeo," Will said, a hint of pride in his voice.

"Wow, lead role. I'm guessing you've acted before."

"Yeah. I was in Peter Pan last year."

"Who were you then?"

"Peter Pan."

The thought of Will dressed up in tights and boots made Nico laugh. To his surprise, Will smiled too.

"It was actually pretty funny. My dad was not pleased with that outfit. He almost didn't let me do Romeo and Juliet."

"Why?" Nico asked. "Just because of the clothes?"

Will looked away. "No. Well, kind of. He just thinks theater is…at least for guys… kind of _gay_, I guess."

There it was, that word again.

"That's lame," Nico said.

"Yeah, well, he came around once I convinced him it would look good on my college application."

"What college do you want to go to?"

"I want to go to Columbia," Will said, brightening somewhat.

"Isn't that Ivy League?"

"Yeah," said Will. He was smiling slightly now. "But I really want to go. It has a great med school, too. I want to be a doctor."

When he said _doctor, _his face seemed to light up. Funny.

"A doctor?" Nico smirked. "So you want to make a lot of money."

"No, I want to help people." Will hadn't even seemed to notice Nico's tone.

Why was Will so excited about all this? He seemed almost radiant. Somehow, it wasn't annoying Nico. It was almost… nice.

Will had a future. He was excited about it, whether he would achieve it or not. But he wasn't looking at failure, it seemed. There wasn't going to be that, no, he was going to get into that school, he was going to be a doctor, and he would have a nice family and a nice house and would go on helping people until the day he died.

And he had just decided that that was how it was going to be?

And that it was going to be true?

To Nico, that was pretty incredible.

He was so _sure _of himself.

But, Nico reminded himself.

_So am I. _

_I am also sure of what my life will be._

Drugs are a great security for the future.

Nico was sure he was going to hate life just as sure as Will was that he was going to love it.

For a moment that difference seemed so vast, so unbreachable, that Nico balked.

But somehow, it didn't seem that way.

In that sense, they weren't that different at all. Oh, the irony.

_I want to help people. _

_Do you think you could help me? _

It was a crazy thought, and Nico tried to push it from his mind before he realized that he had already asked.

Will and him were never going to be friends. Will was annoying. He was rule obsessed. They were complete opposites.

But in some obscure part of Nico's mind, he wanted to be close to Will.

Those long eyelashes were opening and closing, hiding and releasing those pieces of sky…

"That's nice," Nico said finally. "Being a doctor. That's great. I hope you get to do that."

"Really?" Will looked surprised.

_Am I really that mean? _

Nico supposed he was.

Will broke into a smile. "Thanks!"

_Warm _

_Is it hot in here?_

Nico let out something between a sigh and a gasp, caught in his throat. He quickly turned it into a cough.

Shit, he was acting weird. It was probably because had been clean for so long. It felt like forever. Surely the hour was almost up. He looked at the clock.

_Five minutes?_

Nico inhaled and exhaled.

"Are you okay?" asked Will.

"Wha- yeah, I'm totally fine."

Again, Will looked like he didn't believe him. But he moved on. Thank god.

"I'm guessing you didn't bring your supplies."

"No…"

Nico's hands were shaking worse now; he slid them under his legs. This had never happened before. Usually he just got uncomfortable, but this…

He wondered if what he was feeling triggered his need. Maybe it was true. If so, then it might have been the second time Will Solace made him nervous enough to feel like this. That had never happened before either, not with anybody. What was it about Will, then?

"Hey, you know what?" Nico said, standing up. "I'm going to go get my things out of my locker."

"Okay," Will nodded, marking his script with a highlighter. "Hurry back."

Nico murmured something that he hoped sounded like _okay, _or _yes. _He hurried out of the room. Maybe Will would interpret that as obeying instructions. But he wasn't even looking up.

The halls seemed narrow, like they were closing in on Nico as he walked. He was wildly reminded of the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; he thought there had been a scene like this. Maybe. Oh, he needed to relax his thoughts. He wanted to sleep.

_Wait, what are you doing? _

_You can't use at school. Again. _

_You promised yourself. _

_You need to go back to tutoring. _

_There is someone waiting for you. _

_That guy Will is waiting for you. _

Nico thought on that for a minute.

_Fuck it all!_

No, that wasn't right.

Okay. This would be the last time. One more time, and then never again at school.

_That's what I said last time. _

He desperately tried to rationalize it in his head, but the only thing he concluded was that he needed it. To survive? Maybe.

Oh, what was the point anymore.

He crept into the bathroom and into a stall. There was no one there, luckily. Well, it was after school.

There it was!

It was after school! It wasn't _during school. _So Nico could take his medicine, and it would be fine.

Right?

He tried not to think about it too much. He _couldn't _think about too much.

He slid down the wall to the ground. The tiles were cold.

From the depths of his over large jacket he pulled out the plastic bag. There were some twenty pills rustling in the bottom. Octavian had just given them to him this morning, charging Nico fifteen more dollars than last time. Nico had given it to him anyways.

Money. That reminded Nico, he had to go to work after this. How else was he going to pay Octavian next time?

So that meant that he could only take one cap. He usually took two at a time, sometimes three, sometimes two and then later two again. He really wanted to take more. He wanted to crush the cap, to inhale it so he would be there, BAM!, on like a light and off like a light all at the same time.

He was spouting nonsense. The last bit of rational thought told him to only take one, so he did.

Just one would take a while to kick in. A while for Nico, anyway.

He dry swallowed it as usual. His throat felt grainy.

He wondered if he should go back to the classroom.

He didn't want to risk it. He didn't feel like it anymore, besides.

He thought of Will, waiting for him to come back. Probably highlighting like a madman, with his concentration face he always had when he was working.

Oh, Will Solace. There is hope for you yet.

How lucky. How wonderful for you. And how fucking terrible for me.

Yeah, Nico definitely wasn't going to go back to class.

He realized something though, at that was that he didn't hate Will at all.

Maybe he kind of liked him. Maybe just a little.

Or maybe he was just starting to get high. He wasn't sure.

But still, it was a feeling he couldn't erase as he walked to his car.

_Warm? _

He got home and went to work. He felt terrible the whole time. One cap had made him tired, but not tired enough to feel anything good out of it.

It was like he was floating in the space before a high, like he was waiting for it to kick in and it never did. He couldn't believe he used to only take one pill at a time. This wasn't working for him at all. Maybe he had taken it so long that he was used to it now.

He remembered the first time he had seen it.

It was after school one day, in sophomore year. Nico had always had problems since Bianca and his mom didn't have enough money to get him anything for it.

And so it was that Octavian told them that he had the fix, the solution, a miracle pill that would solve all Nico's problems. He used it himself, he said. Nico could get it cheap, he said. It was called Vicodin, and it wasn't even illegal. Technically.

Nico didn't care. He took it.

Octavian had told him two lies.

It wasn't cheap.

And it didn't fix Nico.

Maybe temporarily, but Nico had enough sense left to know, that no, it hadn't fixed him, instead it had made it worse.

And he knew all this, and yet, he didn't want to stop. After Vicodin came Xanax, then on the complete opposite side of the spectrum came Adderall, Ritalin, and Vyvanse, the former of which he used to steal from one of his mom's clients who had ADHD. He used them for a time, even did some coke ironically, but always came back to the sleepers. He wanted to be unfocused.

Maybe the pills had cut a cord in his brain, something that connected everything to make it all make sense. Because to Nico, it seemed like his brain was shutting down. His body was shutting down. His everything was shutting down, falling in feathered pieces to the ground like ash from a fading fire.

He thought of Will again, so solid, so warm, so _there. _

Nico was floating away.

He scrubbed the restaurant toilet with a ferocity, trying to feel something. It just made his arms ache.

By the time he clocked out, he was finally tired.

Mission accomplished.


	5. Chapter 5

"So there's a test next week."

"I am aware."

"Did you do the work I asked you over the weekend?"

It was with slight pride that Nico said he had.

The feeling strengthened when he saw Will smile, look genuinely pleased.

Would you look at that. If it was that easy to make Will happy Nico wondered why he hadn't done it before.

Maybe because he was tweaking out. Yeah, that was probably it.

He had texted Will a lame excuse from the day he had left, something about not feeling well. That had been true at the time, he supposed. Still, not totally true. But it was okay, because since then he had gotten himself somewhat under control. For the first time in months, he was back on a regular schedule. So it seemed. In his heart of hearts Nico knew it wouldn't last. But it was working for now, and Nico knew it was better to take these type of things one day at a time.

And so it was that on Sunday he had gritted his teeth, sat down in the middle of his bed, and poured out the contents of his backpack onto the sheets. There wasn't much in there; a few assorted pens and pencils along with the occasional food wrapper and crumpled paper. He had exactly one notebook. That he took out, opened, and stared at the first page.

It seemed an alien gesture. Homework? What was that? The teachers had basically given up on making him do anything. He only did anything school related when it was absolutely necessary. And through this strategy he had managed to barely pass his classes for most of high school. Until this year. This year was harder. What kind of teachers would make the last year the worst? But somehow they had, and Nico was feeling it. Hard.

Will had written out notes for him. His handwriting looked like a girl's, all straight and neat and loopy. What kind of idiots still wrote in cursive? It took double the effort for Nico to decipher it.

But he had done it, he had done the stupid work.

And now it was Tuesday, and Nico handed the mound of papers to Will, who took it with a strong grip.

"You should organize more," he said, leafing through the sheets. "It would make things a lot easier for you."

"How about no?" Nico said. "I did the work. That's good enough."

"It's never enough to be 'good enough,' " Will responded. "The only way you can get ahead is to go up and beyond."

"Well, I apologize."

_Not. _

Will hadn't seemed to noticed Nico's sarcasm.

"It's okay, just do it next time."

Nico watched as Will's eyes slowly scanned down the paper, his face showing nothing. Why was he going so slow? Nico just needed to know if he did it right or not. Will was treating this like it was the SATs or something.

"Well?"

"It's not bad," Will said.

"Not bad?" Nico yelped. "I spent hours on that thing. You owe me more than that."

Will smiled. "No, it's actually pretty good. You seem to understand everything. It just reads… casual."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"You know what I mean."

"No, I don't."

"Yeah you do. You just don't want to admit that you did something wrong."

"What?! I-" Nico stopped. "Fine. Help me, then."

Will laughed. It was a nice sound, Nico thought. Not annoying at all. It was a rich laugh, a full one, and it made Will seem strangely older. More mature. Nico wasn't sure how laughter could do that, but somehow it did. It seemed easy coming out of Will's mouth, a reflex, a well-worn tool used often. How it should be. It was only with Nico that laughter seemed like a rusty machine, creaking to life only once in a blue moon.

But Will made him laugh. It had been a while since Nico had had a reason to.

So what did that mean…

Nico wasn't sure, but he knew that he liked hearing Will laugh.

And with laughter came a smile, and Will sure did have one of those.

It occurred to Nico that he had been thinking about Will's face a lot. Just how it moved and functioned, how it flicked from expression to expression. Will seemed to have a lot of emotions. Nico did too, he supposed, but he was better at hiding them. Will wasn't. Or maybe he just didn't care.

That would be nice, Nico thought. Not having to worry about hiding what you felt.

But it made one more vulnerable, and that was something that Nico could not afford. With Will, however, Nico felt like one good insult would leave him reeling for days.

Not that Nico would insult him. He was pretty sure he had progressed past the _I hate Will Solace _stage.

What was left was a grudging tolerance but a growing curiosity, and he had the strangest suspicion that Will felt the same way.

_Curiosity. _

What kind of curiosity was it? Nico didn't know.

Was it the how he felt about Thalia Grace?

It felt vaguely the same, but Nico knew it wasn't. It couldn't be the same. Will was a guy, and Thalia was a girl.

He wasn't _attracted _to Will. Not in that way.

And yet he was, was attracted to him, in the sense that he wanted to see him. To be near him. Heck, he had even been kind of impatient for the school day to end so that he could come to tutoring.

For tutoring? Since when had Nico actually been excited for school work?

The answer was never. He was never excited for homework.

So that must been that he had been impatient to see Will.

The thought made him nauseated.

He looked at Will now, correcting Nico's paper with a red pen from his endless supply. He was wearing a polo shirt and khakis. It honestly amazed Nico how Will managed to dress like an old person and a little kid at the same time. But it didn't look too bad, actually. Will was… fairly good looking, and if Nico looked closer, he could see a faint freckle across his straight nose-

"What are you doing?" Will asked.

"What?"

"You were staring at me."

"Was I…"

Nico broke out of his stupor suddenly, left with only a few remnants of what he had been thinking about. But it was enough to know that he had been thinking about Will in a weird way. In a very weird way. A way that Will needn't know about any time soon or ever.

Why had he been thinking that way? There was literally anything else to think about, and Nico had chosen to ruminate on the structure of Will's face.

_Think about Thalia. Think about the shirt she had on yesterday. _

Nico couldn't concentrate.

_Damn you, Will Solace!_

And now Will was looking at him, looking at him oddly.

"Now who's the one staring?"

Will blinked. "Sorry," he mumbled.

Silence.

"So," Will begun hastily. "Not too bad on your homework. I think you'll do well on the test."

"Really?"

"Really. I believe in you."

_I believe in you. _

It had been a long time since someone had told him _that. _

"Thanks," Nico said softly.

"No problem," said Will. "Just doing my job."

"You don't even get paid," Nico said. "What's the point, then?"

As he said it Nico knew what the answer would be. Maybe he just wanted to hear Will say it again.

"I like helping people."

"That seems like a romantic notion," said Nico. "You can't really believe that."

"But I do," Will said. "That's like, the only thing I know for sure."

"The only thing?"

"Well yeah," Will thought for a moment. "If I can believe that, I have this theory that everything else will just kind of fall into place."

"I don't get that," Nico said. "How can you be that positive?"

Will frowned. "The world's not _bad, _Nico."

Nico scoffed.

"It's not, it's really not. No one's completely a bad person. There's no such thing."

"I beg to differ."

"Nico, are you talking about _yourself_?"

Nico glanced up at him then, caught somewhere between having wanted to laugh and now being stunned into silence by the way Will was looking at him.

"Of course not," Nico said quickly.

_Lies. _

"I just think differently," he finished.

"You're wrong," Will said, "I'll show you one day, Nico DiAngelo."

"And how do you intend to do that?"

"By proving that _you _aren't all that bad."

Will had seen through him. He hadn't even batted an eye. He could just _see. _

Nico swallowed, wetting his lips with his tongue.

"You don't know me," he said finally.

"Maybe not yet," said Will.

"And what makes you think you will?"

"I'm quite a determined person, if I do say so myself."

"But…why?" Nico asked. "Why do you want to get to know _me_?"

"Because you're interesting," Will asked. "And you might be annoying and delusional, but I like you."

Nico's head was reeling.

_I… like you? _

I like you too, he wanted to say. I like you too, I like you a lot.

But he couldn't bring himself to say it. He wouldn't sink to that level.

And yet he really wanted to.

"Can I ask you something?" Will said. He had a strange determination about him, as if he had already got out the worst of it. Maybe he had.

"Shoot," said Nico. He was at a loss to say anything else.

"Tell me honestly, do you do drugs?"

Just when Nico thought Will couldn't say anything more out there.

At its mere mention his heart started pounding in his chest.

"That's a pretty personal question, don't you think?"

"Sorry," Will said quickly. "I didn't mean to overstep my boundaries-"

"Well, you already have, haven't you?"

"Yeah, I guess I have."

"Well the answer is no. I don't."

_Lies, lies!_

And this time Nico could tell that Will believed him. How, he didn't know. Probably because Will _wanted _to believe it.

And Nico couldn't tell why he had lied, besides the obvious reason. Will was probably a rat to the highest degree. But besides that, Nico didn't want Will to know. He didn't want Will to think he was… to think he was…

He couldn't find the right word for it.

Then it occurred to him that they had just discussed it.

_Bad. _

But then would that mean Will would accept him?

It wasn't worth it.

They had just started talking, were forced to start talking, barely two weeks ago. And yet Will had the guts to ask these questions, these stupid questions, and to assert his stupid claims that the world was all made of sparkles and rainbow glitter and if you just _wished _to be good, then you would be and could go on dancing with all the fucking unicorns and fairy godmothers or some shit.

Will was naive.

Nico wished he could still be.

So he wasn't going to tarnish that for Will.

"Sorry," Will said quietly. "That was pretty personal."

"I would say so."

"It's not that I thought you shoot up or anything-"

"Then why did you ask?"

Will's cheeks pinked.

"That's what I thought."

Nico hated the look on Will's face. Mainly because he had caused it.

"Hey, don't worry about it," he said quickly, trying to repair the damage. "I know what people think. I don't really care."

"Yeah, I just heard…" Will trailed off.

"There'll always be rumors," Nico said. "Most of them are bullshit. Just ignore them."

"Yeah, well…" Will laughed nervously. "I didn't really think that one was true. Honestly."

"Thanks, I guess."

"Yeah."

Will paused for a moment, and then continued.

"Do you know any rumors about me?"

"What is it with you and weird questions?"

"No," Will blushed. Nico noticed that he seemed to do that a lot. "I just want to know. What do people think of me?"

"Well…"

Nico wasn't sure he wanted to say.

"Just tell me. I won't get mad."

"People think you're kind of a tight-ass," Nico said. "And that you're a suck-up."

"Well…" Will looked slightly taken aback, as if he hadn't expected Nico to be so blunt.

Then he laughed suddenly, his face breaking into a smile.

"I guess that's kind of true," he said.

"Really? I don't think so," Nico blurted out.

Will stared at him, his eyes widened ever so slightly.

"What I mean is that, it's not _completely _true," Nico ad libbed. As if that would make it any better. He seemed to have burned the filter between his brain and his mouth. That was dangerous.

Will smiled ever so slightly, his eyes to the desk.

"See, you're not that bad, Nico."

"Bullshit."

"You're not, but you want to be."

"You know what, stop!"

Will only smiled and smiled and smiled right into Nico's mind.

"You think you're so smart," Nico said. "Maybe the rumors are true."

But he was joking now, he felt elated, inflated, walking on air. Almost giddy. And he was sure that Will had caused it, the balloon effect, but he didn't know why.

What would he ever know?

"I am smart," Will agreed. "And you need to do your work."

"Right."

Will glanced at the clock.

"Man! It's already been a half hour and we haven't done anything."

"That's fine with me. It's not like I'm raring to go."

"No, it's not that" said Will. "I have tennis practice in like twenty minutes."

"Tennis? Jesus christ, what could be more boring?"

"Sitting here with you, evidently. Look, I'm gonna have to go. I'll see you Thursday. Take notes on the next section."

He got up to leave.

"_Tight-ass," _Nico mumbled under his breath.

Will smacked him in the head with a tennis racket.

"What the fuck? Get out of here before I hit you back."

"I may be shorter, but I'm still bigger than you. You do not want to try, trust me."

"Please, big compared to a seventh grader. You're not much to look at."

"Do you want another one?" Will said, hoisting up the racket.

"Bring it on."

"On second thought, I don't think you're worth it."

"Have fun, Will," Nico said.

"Thanks, I will. Bye."

"See you."

And a few seconds later Will was gone, and Nico sat there for a moment, wishing he was still there.

He rubbed the back of his head. That was going to leave a mark.

* * *

Nico looked at the clock.

Fifteen minutes until he could leave.

It felt like he had carried the stupid tubs for ages.

He usually didn't mind work that much, since it kept his mind off of other things. But tonight he wasn't having it. All the bad things about the job seemed to be amplified. The waiters never tipped him enough. The customers were rude. The diner was always crowded. Well, on second thought, that might be a good thing. Just not for him.

The place wasn't even a real diner; it was just called that because it sounded "retro." There were old posters of coke bottles and pin up girls everywhere that Nico thought were obnoxiously tacky. The uniforms were equally as stupid. Even as a busboy he was foreced to wear a bow tie. A fucking bow tie! That was another reason Nico disliked the clutter of people that were always packed into the restaurant, even on weekdays.

He would quit, but on good days it wasn't that bad.

He would quit, but he needed to pay for his "medicine."

_Medicine. _Was he really calling it that now? That sounded so… he didn't even know. Medicine was psychedelics. The stuff he was on was medicine to good people, something entirely different to people like him.

He was clearing a table when he heard someone call him.

He turned around; the caller had been one of a group of teenage girls. He looked closer; girls he vaguely recognized from school.

And then there, against the far side of the booth in a leather jacket and combat boots. Thalia Grace.

Nico went over.

"Can I get you anything?" he asked. He was already pretty sure they didn't need anything restaurant-related.

The blond girl closest to him smiled. "Nico… you look so cute! Why didn't you tell me you worked here?"

"I don't know, maybe because we don't hang out?" Nico said. He didn't really care. The girl was pretty, but annoying. She wore too much makeup.

The girl pouted for a moment before seemingly realizing that she should be smiling. "When does your shift end? Come sit with us."

Nico looked at Thalia, who looked coolly back at him. No, _gazing _was what it was. She took a sip of her drink. He swallowed. What was she thinking right now?

"I just started," Nico lied. He didn't want to sit all of them. Just one of them.

"You have a late shift," another girl complained. "Are you coming to the game tomorrow? I want to talk to you."

She winked then, sloppily, and Nico tried not to laugh. Jesus Christ.

"No, I don't like football."

_Or you. _

"Oh, okay." The girl looked taken aback.

Thalia smiled slightly to herself, as if amused by the conversation going on around her. She was building a tower of sugar packets. Her black hair edged around her jawline, her earrings glinting outwards.

"I have to get back to work," Nico said flatly, and walked away.

As he left, he could hear part of their conversation.

"I don't understand him. Why wouldn't he want to talk to me?"

"Yeah, he's hot but he's so mean!"

"He's not being mean to you, he just doesn't like you."

That last one was Thalia. Nico smiled.

When he clocked out and went to his car, she was sitting on his hood.

Her makeup seemed to glow under the diner's neon, and her eyes looked somewhat dangerous. He could see a cigarette in her hands, and the smoke framed her face like a veil pulled back before a groom.

"Do you want one?" she asked as he came closer, holding out a pack.

"Sure," Nico said, and took one. She handed him a lighter. The first breath felt like he was inhaling air from a morgue. He hated smoking, but if Thalia was doing it, then he was going to as well.

He leaned against the driver's side and blew out the smoke. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I knew you were lying. I just decided to wait for you. I don't have a ride home."

"How did you get here?"

"Drew. She kicked me out after I told her that you don't like her. Her tiny mind can't seem to comprehend that you just aren't into her."

Nico smirked. "Yeah, I heard that."

"Do you think she's pretty?"

"She's not as hot as you."

Thalia smiled and looked up at the sky. Nico thought that maybe she was trying to see the stars, which there weren't many of. The city had blocked out most all of them.

"Oh, Nico. You're going to have to try harder than that. And no more following me."

"You can't talk. You're here waiting for me."

"But you wanted to see me, didn't you?"

"I guess."

She turned around then, crawling over to where Nico stood. She was right by his ear.

"Don't lie."

Nico couldn't help it, he smiled. "Don't flatter yourself."

"You're flattering me, Nico. Now can you give me a ride or what?"

"Where do you live?"

"Oakridge."

"Damn, that's really out of my way."

"Please?"

She swung her legs around so that they were dangling off the side of the hood.

He looked at her then, and her eyes looked freaking _alive. _

"Okay," he said. "Get in."

He could barely believe his luck. Thalia Grace was riding shotgun. The night was young. They were alone.

She had the moon and the streetlights in her hair; she had the window down and Nico was going way too fast, but he didn't care and he was pretty sure she didn't. She waved her hand out of the window, as if trying to touch the wind.

"Go faster," she said.

"I'm gonna get arrested," he said.

"I think I can seduce the cop," she said. "Or you can, if it's a girl. Or if it's a gay guy."

"Yeah, I'm sure that would work," Nico said.

"You underestimate yourself," she replied, still looking out the window.

"You overestimate yourself."

"It's better to more confident than not to have confidence at all, isn't it?"

"I guess so," said Nico. Why did everyone want to talk about philosophical things today?

"Nico, you're too in your own head," Thalia said, turning to him. "You need to loosen up."

"Wow," he said. "You're really telling _me _of all people that?"

"Yeah," she said, taking off her jacket. "Everyone thinks you're so cool and dangerous, but you're really not."

"How do you know that?"

_Funny how this conversation seems familiar. _

"Because I think you don't really know what you're doing," she said. "You don't know what you're doing at all."

"What is that supposed to mean?" he asked.

But he knew the answer.

"Let the night tell you!" she yelled out the window.

"What the-"

"Nico, listen to me," she said, suddenly quiet. "Just trust me on this. You need to live your life, you know?"

"Watch yourself, Thalia. Last time I checked, you didn't know me that well-"

"I like you," she cut him off.

He looked at her for the millionth time, saw her bare shoulders and her eyeliner and hand out the window and into the world.

"I like you too," he said.

"So it's mutual then." She laughed, a crazy sound, like a witch in a coven.

"Tell me, are you drunk or high?" Nico asked. Jesus, if he didn't keep his eyes on the ground, forget the police, he was going to crash.

"I'm high on life," was what she answered.

Nico thought that was pretty beautiful, no matter how cliche. She was beautiful. She was the light of the stars that had gone missing, but she was right there, next to Nico, a celestial being pulled down to earth.

She was new.

Nico drove until they got to her house, one of the giant Oakridge ones with the giant lawn and giant windows that no doubt required a number of housekeepers to maintain.

"Well, we're here," she said. "Thanks for putting up with me."

"Anytime," said Nico.

She got out of the car and next to the open driver's window, and she leaned down, her arms resting on the sill.

"Nico DiAngelo…" she said slowly.

She was a mere inches from his face, and she seemed to lean in. Nico did the same.

This was it.

And then she drew away, a half smile on her face.

"Maybe next time," she said, and she walked up the brick path, her hips swinging.

Nico waited until she was inside.

Then he punched the dashboard.

_Goddammit!_

He could almost hear her laughing.

His car was full of cigarette smoke.

Ah, what was that word again?

_Curiosity. _

And she had only made him more curious.

Not that he would admit it.

So that was two people he was curious about now.

It occurred to him that they both had said the same thing to him.

_I like you. _

But he had only said it back to the girl.

He hadn't been able to say it to Will.

Somehow, it felt wrong.


End file.
